When meeting people

When we meet people, we usually say an expression like Good morning, Good afternoon or Good evening. This is relatively formal. In a very informal style, we can say Hello or Hi.

When we meet people, we often greet them by shaking hands and saying ‘How do you do?’ or ‘Nice to meet you.’

• Good morning Mike. How are you?
• Hello Stella. How are things with you?

Note that we do not usually shake hands with our close friends or family members. We greet them by just saying ‘hello’ or ‘hi’.

When we meet people we know, we politely ask about their health or general wellbeing.

Common expressions are:

• How’re you?
• How’s it going?
• How’re you doing?
• How’re things?
• How’s things? (very informal)

Formal answers are:

• Fine, thank you.
• Very well, thank you. And you?

Informal answers are:

• OK.
• Fine, thanks.
• I’m alright.
• Great, thanks.
• I’m good, thank you.
• Not too bad.

When leaving people

When leaving people we can use an expression like Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening or Good night. Note that Good night is not used to greet people when you meet them. Its meaning is similar to Good bye.

In a less formal style, we can also say:

• Bye.
• Good bye.
• See you.
• See you later.
• Take care.
• See you tomorrow.
• See you next week.
• See you soon.